"I feel totally connected to Thomas Jefferson. I see the vision
of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That's what keeps
me engaged, democracy and happiness."
- Aaron Pava |
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While we honor the men in our lives for Father's day this month, I
didn't want to pass up an opportunity to feature one of the men in
our community who brings drive, passion and celebration to whatever
he's doing on the activist front. Aaron Pava is an outstanding individual
who is bringing a lot of heart and soul to local politics here in
San Francisco.
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"Action happens
when people tell the truth, keep their intentions and remain
authentic."
|
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Just last year, Aaron's
initiative to mobilize San Francisco's dance community in support
of Instant Run Off Voting (IRV) was a huge success, and acknowledged
by the Prop A campaign as a key factor in pushing the vote to
a winning 54 percent. Although the "dance community" is often
mischaracterized as unengaged young people, Aaron demonstrated
that huge fundamental changes in society can be made by mobilizing
this audience and do it while having a good time, in celebration
and community." |
"There is a uniqueness to getting young voters active," Aaron
said, "and, I don't think it is true that young people are unengaged.
Society is selling them out, writing them off. Young people are engaged.
And, when they see others engaged, it just expands that collective
voice, making a huge difference in all aspects of our society, including
elections."
So, here are the three reasons SpiralMuse: Activism chose Aaron
as our "Male-Activist" of the month.
1. Aaron believes community is a powerful force. He shared enthusiastically!:
"If you look at making change as just one individual instead of
a community of individuals, when you are 'off', you are stopped..
But, when you are in a community, like Cultural Creatives or Environmentalists,
when you are stopped you still see this huge driving force moving
things forward. Community is so powerful."
2. Aaron understands partnership. You gotta love this duo!: 3.
"One of the things I love about working in partnership is that my
partner, Shonn Mills, is uncompromising in moving forward. He doesn't
stop!, he's tireless in his actions. I love that I can see between
the lines, see inside a vision, while, he can see exactly how to
execute and he's unstoppable in doing so."
And, Aaron is a bit out there. Are we the only one's that get this?
"In seeing an expansive vision of what is possible in creating life,
liberty and happiness on the planet, I do move back and forth between
the spiritual and the political. What keeps me from dropping out
of the political realm is that when I come from transforming the
world, instead of changing it, there isn't so much struggle. "
"I believe that we can move from one reality to the next like
an on and off switch. By seeing the world as perfect just the way
it is in any moment, I have more energy to pull a possible future
into the present. With transformation, there's a possibility available,
and we're just stepping into it, instead of coming from the past
and trying to fix things that happened in the past.... that is really
an insane approach if you live and create in the present."
To learn more about Aaron Pava and Shonn Mill's work on IRV, please
visit these articles at SFGate:
New
vanguard carries the beat for social change
Instant
runoff catching fire with activists
In celebration of Father's Day we honor MEN! Thank you Aaron for
what you nurture and create.
Marcella Eversole, Activism Editor
To submit, articles, actions, photos or projects, please send via
email to m@spralmuse.com
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